Irvine high school students ready their mini satellite for launch into orbit

Vidur Kaushish, mission manager at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. in Irvine, inspects the orbital deployer after a CubeSat was placed inside. The satellite, worked on by 150 Irvine high school students from six schools, will be launched from India later this year. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The pint-sized satellite dubbed IRVINE01 that a group of students from six Irvine high schools spent the past school year and free time building is now ready to be launched into orbit from a site in India.

About 60 of the 150 students involved in the collaborative project gathered at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. on Wednesday, July 26, to watch their “baby,” what is known as a CubeSat, positioned in the orbital deployer that will carry it into space next month.

The final hand-off took place at a sterile work bench inside a “clean room” at the headquarters for Tyvak, a company whose customers include government agencies and commercial clients from around the world. Security measures prevented some students with the IRVINE01 project from attending because they are not U.S. citizens.

The significance of the day — captured by several news outlets — was not lost on the teens who waited for about two hours in the parking lot while a few of their teammates conducted final tests inside and prepped IRVINE01 for launch integration.

“Here we are, almost two years later, and about to launch it,” said Lily Litvak, 16, who was a freshman at University High when the project began in early 2016 and is entering her junior year with thoughts about a career in science and math, possibly as an engineer.

For the nanosattelite project, each school formed a team: Team Prime at University High, where Litvak participated in filling out the required applications and forms for permits and worked on the frame; Team Avionics at Beckman High; Team Communications at Woodbridge High; Team Power at Northwood High; Team Propulsion at Irvine High; and Team Biotech at Portola High.

Lauren Seelig of Northwood and Vesal Razavimaleki of Beckman, who both graduated this year, were the last students to handle the CubeSat, about the size of half a milk carton with 4-inch sides and weighing 2.3 pounds, before two Tyvak engineers took over the delicate job of placing it into the deployer.

Seelig and Razavimaleki donned the same attire as the engineers — static-resistant gowns, gauze hair and face nets, and sterile gloves — for their up-close observation. The other students trooped in afterward, in groups no larger than four at a time, for a look at the deployer, which also will hold two commercial satellites when it is launched in late August from a province on the eastern coast of India.

The original plan called for launching IRVINE01 from a site in Russia, but problems with that company’s rocket led to working with Tyvak. Once the CubeSat enters its planned elliptical orbit of about 200 to 300 miles out, it will snap photos of Venus, the moon and stars.

IRVINE01 is the first high school nanosatellite project of its kind on the West Coast. If successful, the Irvine students also will have bragging rights as the first high school program to launch and communicate with an operational CubeSat from the United States.

Already, the Irvine program has captured the attention of NASA: A CubeSat to be built next school year, known as IRVINE02, will be one of 34 small satellites from entities around the nation selected for upcoming missions sponsored by the space agency. NASA selected only two other non-college level school projects, from a STEM magnet school in Virginia and from a private school for gifted children in Florida.

The students can thank the vision of two down-to-earth dads, Brent Freeze and Kain Sosa, whose own mission was to steer more local students to career paths in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. The financial backing of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, with $150,000 in seed funding, and guidance from teachers at each of the six high schools made the project a reality.

“It’s definitely a big deal,” Neda Eaton, CEO and president of the foundation, said about the NASA launch selection. “We’re real excited to hear that.”

Eaton is equally enthused by the fundraising, halfway to a $500,000 goal, that will allow the foundation to develop a curriculum around the CubeSat project that can be shared with other school districts. There’s also the possibility of expanding the nanosatellite program into middle schools in Irvine, Eaton said.

One of the goals of the hands-on project: engage more girls in considering careers in STEM-related fields.

University High science and engineering instructor Tinh Tran led the collaborative effort that involved juggling the schedules of teachers at each of the other five schools and those of the students. Not only was there schoolwork to be done, but all the other extra-curricular activities of today’s teens. The last two weeks before assembling the CubeSat involved about 80 hours spent after school, Tran said.

“It took a lot of hard work to get to this day.”

Shirley Shah, 15, and about to be a junior at Irvine High, worked on the magnetorquers that will control the rotational position of the CubeSat once in space. Shah, who is certain she wants to be an engineer, is both eager and nervous about the upcoming launch.

She has her eye on the big picture: “We understand that if it doesn’t go quite the way we want, it still was an accomplishment.”